MIDDLETOWN REACTIONS: Death of bin Laden brings closure for some

MIDDLETOWN -- The death of Osama bin Laden brings closure to a 10-year pursuit, but also creates worries of retaliatory attacks, local terrorism experts said Monday.

The mastermind behind the 9/11 tragedy was killed on Sunday by U.S. forces, President Barack Obama announced in a late-night press conference.

Erica Chenoweth, director of Wesleyan's Program on Terrorism and Insurgency Research, said she was surprised that bin Laden had been living so close to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, and that he was in a fortified compound that appeared to have been built just for him.

To reduce the threat of future attacks from Al Qaeda, including retaliatory ones, Chenoweth suggested that the U.S. try to plant rumors within the organizations ranks, so senior Al Qaeda members turn against each other.

"The best possible outcome would be for Al Qaeda operatives to begin killing one another, which would minimize the backlash against the United States as well as the resources the U.S. needs to devote to the fight," Chenoweth said in an email.

Another good strategy, she said, would be to focus attacks on other areas where Al Qaeda is strong, like Yemen.

Chenoweth cautioned that the second generation of a terrorist group is often stronger than the first, as was the case with the 19th century anarchist movement, or with left-wing European terrorists in the 1980s. Because of that pattern, Chenoweth said, the U.S. needs to continue to prepare for and disrupt international threats.

Still, she said, bin Laden's death could have some positive outcomes.

"The killing of bin Laden provides the U.S. intelligence and military community with an enormous morale boost," Chenoweth said.

In addition, she said, it gives the U.S. a reason to evaluate its continued military presence in Afghanistan, and whether it should continue searching for Al Qaeda operatives in the region.

Martha Crenshaw, a former professor at Wesleyan and another expert on terrorism, said bin Laden's death "brings closure to a pursuit that began well before the 9/11 attacks."

Crenshaw, who now works at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., said bin Laden's death showed the U.S. military's tenacity, and its ability to keep a secret as it zeroed in on his location in the past several months.

"It is often said that terrorism cannot be deterred because terrorists have no return address, but it turned out that bin Laden did," Crenshaw wrote in a statement on Stanford's website. "After years of patient intelligence work, the U.S. finally found it."

Crenshaw said it was hard to predict how Al Qaeda would react to its leader's death. She warned that there is a "second tier" of Al Qaeda that could potentially take over, and said there would almost definitely be calls for retaliatory attacks. In addition, she said, the fact that bin Laden had been hiding in Pakistan could harm U.S.-Pakistani relations.

Susan Bysiewicz, a Middletown resident and candidate for the U.S. Senate, released a statement on Monday, saying bin Laden's death has "brought justice" to his victims around the world.

"Hopefully this victory will bring solace, comfort and closure to the families of the victims of his acts of terror here in Connecticut and around the world," Bysiewicz said.

Middletown Common Councilwoman Hope Kasper said the news did help bring "some closure" to her family. Her brother-in-law, Middlefield resident Bruce Eagleson, was killed at the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

After speaking to her sister Gail, Eagleson's widow, Kasper said the news brought "additional closure for her."

"I feel the same way," Kasper said. "The time has come."

But others who lost family members in the attacks said closure will never be possible.

Ed Brymer, who was Middletown's police chief at the time of the attacks, lost a cousin. Richard Prunty had been a battalion commander in the New York Fire Department.

Brymer said he had just spoken with Prunty's widow, Susan, about bin Laden's death.

"A lot of people are saying it's bringing closure, but she doesn't feel that way," Brymer said. "Nothing will ever bring closure to her husband being killed."

But, Brymer said, Prunty's family is still "very proud" of the U.S. and its military for finding bin Laden.

Because of the threat of possible retaliatory attacks against the U.S., Brymer reminded citizens of the importance of reporting anything suspicious they see, even if it turns out to be nothing.

"As a result, everyone will have to keep their guard up because they'll find excuses to try to retaliate," Brymer said. "But I think it's very important that they got him."